


Cornered

by fecklessphilanderer



Series: The Arcana Whump [3]
Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Asphyxiation, Blood and Injury, Bruises, Crying, Fights, Gender-Neutral Apprentice (The Arcana), Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Sparring, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:54:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24466033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fecklessphilanderer/pseuds/fecklessphilanderer
Summary: "They had you backed against a rock wall at the bottom of a ravine. Just a ten-minute run from Muriel’s cabin. So close to safety you can taste it when you spit up blood after throwing up a barrier spell."The two of you are backed into a corner and Muriel loses himself in memories of being the Arena and forgets who the enemy is.[to put it bluntly this is the one where Muriel fights the apprentice and almost wins]
Relationships: Apprentice/Muriel (The Arcana), Muriel (The Arcana)/Reader
Series: The Arcana Whump [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1675759
Comments: 14
Kudos: 218





	Cornered

You’re close to the boundaries of Vesuvia when they catch you.

You had chosen to turn tail and flee when Morga fell. Whether Lucio and Valdemar had hunted you and Muriel the whole time or just happened upon you on their own journey was unclear. The fight that broke out was not.

They had you backed against a rock wall at the bottom of a ravine. Just a ten-minute run from Muriel’s cabin. So close to safety you can taste it when you spit up blood after throwing up a barrier spell.

Finally, your magic was starting to hold against these powerful adversaries. But it was too little too late. You and Muriel back to back as you try to envision a version where you escape this with your weapons broken around you and nothing but unruly magic and your hands.

You can feel Muriel’s heavy breaths against your spine. Inanna long gone as Muriel asked her to run for help. 

“A barrier spell. How entertaining…” You try to hold your magic, but it spills through your fingers as it’s overtaken by Valdemar and the barrier glows a sickly reddish as it’s bastardized and twisted into a new form.

The barrier hits the rock behind you. So hard you worry it will tumble down on you and Muriel as you are thrown apart. Now it cages you in like a wild animal. Muriel punches it but the magic doesn’t give, only bruises his knuckles.

Now you are separated, Lucio stalking around the barrier while Valdemar looks positively delighted to have you both trapped like specimens.

“Who would you like first Lucio?”

In a desperate bid you pour out your waterskin in a shallow dip in the ground. It hisses and begins to evaporate as it touches the ground.

“Asra! Help. Asra! Asra!” You glimpse a hint of purple eyes before the water evaporates completely.

Valdemar tsks.

“No Magician coming for you.”

“The coward wouldn’t dare face me!” Lucio growls.

“Why don’t we play a game, a chance to observe human behaviours?”

Lucio huffs and increases his pace circling the barrier.

“Scourge! It’s your choice. I’ll open the barrier and y/n can face Lucio, or I will open the barrier between the two of you and they can face Vesuvia’s brutal fighter.”

“I won’t!” Muriels yell is powerful but Valdemar just shrugs and the barrier keeping Lucio away from you begins to dissipate.

You do everything you can not to cower, watching the sharp talons of Lucio’s hands and unable to unsee the way they can plunge into a chest and rip out the heart.

“Wait!”

You keep your eyes on Lucio, not trusting he won’t lose patience and find a way to attack you but you can hear resignation in Muriel’s voice.

“I’ll fight.”

The barrier goes back up, when you turn around the one dividing you from Muriel is gone.

“Still well trained aren’t you.” Muriel glares out at Valdemar.

You sigh in relief. Now all you need to do is draw it out and pray that help will come. If it doesn’t come in time…you try not to think about it.

When you look in Muriel’s eyes you see his fear. He stands like he always does when you spar. Steady feet and large arms held up and open, ready to catch your first attack.

You try to ignore the audience and run into Muriel’s space.

“Draw it out, help’s coming.” You whisper in his ear with ragged breaths before twisting behind him to kick at his legs.

He stumbles away from you to catch his balance.

When he turns to face you he nods before you charge again.

The two of you exchange blows in an easy back and forth. You dodge, he blocks and so on until you are short of breath and feel lethargy creeping up on you. With a sweep of your legs you trip up Muriel enough that you can move away and catch your breath.

“This isn’t some paltry sparring match, let us see blood or we will make it so.” Valdemar’s order makes Muriel freeze.

“Show us your true skills Scourge and maybe we’ll let you live!” Lucio cackles.

Muriel’s eyes go wide with panic, you can see him preparing to fold in on himself.

You shake your head. _Do it._ You mouth the words. _Do it._

You try to smile and keep the air of calm as the large fist connects with your stomach but it’s hard to stay that way when the air hisses out of you.

Muriel’s apprehension has been replaced by a determined glare. For the first time you feel the tickle of fear up your spine as you scramble off the ground and narrowly dodge another fist.

You try not to let it show on your face as you dodge another powerful hit that just grazes your arm.

You stumble backwards but Muriel crowds you, so you lash out pulling him towards you, using his large form against him to slip around and away to catch your breath.

When he turns to face you again his eyes look blank. Like he’s not really seeing what’s in front of him.

You feel out with your magic, but this is no spell. Lucio and Valdemar still stalk the outside of the barrier to watch.

“Muriel! Snap out of it!”

Muriel rushes you with another deep growl and this time when he hits it connects and you are thrown to the side with a yelp.

You punch upwards and hit his chin with a loud crack. He barely reacts and forces a knee into your chest before ripping you down by your hair.

Stones and dirt dig deep into the meat of your palms as you try to dizzily crawl away. You run up against the barrier, heart pounding with the knowledge that Muriel doesn’t recognize you right now. He’ll follow through like he had when he was forced to fight in the arena.

When you glance up you can see Valdemar’s sharp grin just outside the barrier before a strong grip on your ankle tugs until you feel something crack.

You flip over and let out a scream, blindly trying to push Muriel away as he shifts his weight to pin you with his massive knee on your already tender ribs. Then before you can roll away his hands wrap around your neck.

You choke on panic.

You kick your legs, but the pressure doesn’t let up. You can feel blood running off your lips and onto his hands, mixing with his sweat. You dig your nails into his wrists deep enough that you can feel him bleed.

You pull on his thick hands with all your strength, but they don’t budge as your vision begins to go spotty. He’s looking right at you.

“Muri—” He increases the pressure when you try to speak and you’re cut off with a wheezing sound.

You can barely see anything but his dark glare as your vision begins to tunnel. You hear Lucio laugh. Your hands feel numb. When did you let go of Muriel? The forest floor feels so cool beneath you.

_This is better than having my heart ripped out._ You think.

There’s a howling. Sudden release and you gasp for air. Then yelling. Purple eyes.

**…**

You’re more than sore when you wake up. It takes a minute of staring up at the knotted roof before it becomes clear than you’re in Muriel’s hut.

“ugh,” your voice comes out scratchy.

“Well goodmorning—evening really, how are you feeling y/n,” Julian’s face pops out of nowhere to lean over you. His hair is a little disheveled and he’s sporting a nasty black eye to match his eyepatch.

Asra is wrapped in a blanket dead asleep by the fire, Inanna wrapped around his legs.

“I feel like shit. What happened to you?” You ask. He laughs and then helps you ease up in the pile of furs to sit. 

“Well it took a lot to get the big guy calmed down, he got a couple of hits in but it’s nothing I can’t handle! It’ll heal up soon enough. Had other things to focus on first.”

“Where is Muriel?” You start to try to stand but Julian pushes you back gently.

“Outside, said something about it being crowded and headed out quite quickly. Barely could get him to sit down and disinfect his cuts. You can join him but let me examine you first. You were pretty banged up.”

Julian goes through the motions of feeling your ribs and asking you questions about how you feel. You answer truthfully.

“Probably fractured a few ribs but they should mend on their own, thankfully Asra used a little magic to heal your throat although I’d recommend a fashionable scarf for the next little while.” You feel the tender bruising with light fingertips after Julian is finished looking. It feels massive.

“Your ankle was broken as well but I handled that.” You move your foot around and feel nothing wrong so you don’t bother asking what he did.

Asra’s got deep dark circles under his eyes, and a few bandages here and there.

“What happened?”

“Well Asra got your call so Nadia got us on horses, and we raced out there, ran into the wolf on the way and she lead us to you. It’s good we got there when we did.” Julian pauses to glance at you before looking at Asra as he continues, “Asra hit them with something powerful, not sure what but Lucio turned tail. Valdemar left too.” Julian shivers.

“He looks exhausted.” You say. “What about Muriel?”

“The wolf jumped him first, then the rest of us piled on, he was having an…episode, I’ve seen it before. When I used to work on Lucio’s battlefields.”

“I thought so, he didn’t seem to know me.”

“Fighting him was definitely the wrong choice. The only way we got him to finally calm down was when Asra sedated him with magic and put up a barrier to keep him from hurting himself or anyone else. Thank god for Nadia and the horses or else I would’ve had to carry all three of you.”

You start to get to your feet and this time Julian doesn’t stop you, just hovers nervously.

Inanna shoots up to stand at your side and steady you, giving your hand a gentle lick.

“Thanks,” you pat her head, “thank you for taking care of us Julian.”

The Doctor blushes and you can’t help but smirk as he sputters and rubs the back of his neck. Behind him you can see Asra smirking a bit too although he’s still feigning sleep.

“I’m going to go speak with Muriel, I’ll take Inanna. You keep Asra warm while we’re gone.”

Julian goes beet red at that and Asra’s smirk spreads into an all-out grin which disappears the moment Julian turns around.

You walk to the door slowly with Inanna glued to your side. Muriel’s travel cloak hangs on the peg by the door, so you grab it before heading out into the dimming light.

**…**

There are a lot of places Muriel could be but judging from the direction of Inanna’s nose you head to the left, following a small path into the brush.

You take slow and even steps. Your body is sore and your head aches, but you keep moving. When you feel unbalanced Inanna pushes against your side to right you.

You only walk for a few minutes when you stop at the sound of clucking somewhere off the path. You follow the noise and see a large figure curled up in a ball on the ground surrounded by three chickens.

You move audibly but Muriel doesn’t look up. You take that as an invitation to move closer until you can drape his massive travel cloak around his shoulder.

Muriel flinches.

You kneel down beside him with little trouble as Inanna helps you down to place a hand between his shoulder blades.

“Leave me be Asra.” His voice is rough and small.

“Were you going to sit out here all night?” You ask softly.

He freezes.

“y/n? You should be resting!”

“I’m fine, just a little sore.”

That gets him to look at you. His eyes are red rimmed and his cheeks are tear streaked. His brows pull together when you say you’re fine.

“You’re not okay! I could’ve killed you y/n. This is why I should be left alone. This proves you wrong.” As you’re listening your eye is drawn to a large bruise across his jaw from the harsh uppercut you dealt during your fight.

It looks tender.

“I hurt you,” you cup the uninjured side of his jaw with soft fingers and tug to get a better look at the dark bruising.

His mouth snaps shut and he lets out a shaky breath as you lean close.

“Does it hurt?” You ask.

“Does it matter.” He grumbles his body starting to unwind from the tight ball he was in. 

“Of course!”

“I tried to kill you.”

“Muriel you didn’t know who I was. You would never do something like that.”

“But I did! What if I get backed into a corner and lose myself again! It’s not safe y/n, you can’t forgive this.” He looks close to tears once more.

“I’ll keep you away from corners then.” You say to try and diffuse the tension.

He looks back to the ground.

You stroke a hand through his hair.

“We were in extraordinary circumstances Muriel; I won’t let that happen again. _We won’t._ If you’re still concerned Julian said he’s seen people experience that before and he might know a bit about how to help.”

He makes a disbelieving sound at Julian’s name.

“Hey now! Asra likes him well enough he can’t be all that bad.”

He looks back up at you, definitely crying now.

“Now, does it hurt?” You slide a thumb up and down soothingly on his damp cheek.

He nods.

You lean close again, and Muriel’s eyes flutter shut.

You move slow and brush the bruise with your lips—barely a kiss.

“I’m sorry,” you breath into his skin before pulling back. He’s blushing as he blinks his eyes open to look at you.

“Can you ever forgive me Muriel?”

“Of course.”

It’s a weight off your shoulders and you’re suddenly so tired. You move stiffly onto Muriel’s lap and he lets you, hands coming up to your hips to balance you.

Once you’re settled you place your hands on his chest, unable to reach any higher due to your ribs.

“Thank you.” You settle in silence with his heartbeat under your palms.

His large hands move slow up your spine and you shiver as they reach the nape of your neck.

“Does it hurt?” He asks.

“Yes.”

You let out a faint squeak when he leans forward slowly to bury his face in the crook of your neck. You feel the hot brush of his lips against the throb of the bruising that matches his hands.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry—” he chokes off on a hitching breath. You rub at his shoulder as comfortingly as you can with your limited range of motion.

“I forgive you.”

He sobs into your shoulder. Mumbling half incoherent apologies into your skin. Even in that state he’s careful not to put pressure on your injuries.

When his sobs calm into soft crying you speak again.

“Muriel lets go back. Asra will want to see you, he loves you, you know?”

He nods and you both stand shakily. Inanna steadying you as you both make your way back.

You lean heavily on Muriel as he opens the door and helps you inside before hanging back up his cloak.

While you were gone, Julian found his way into Asra’s lap. The two are sound asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> this was hard to tie off neatly. hope I did it justice.


End file.
